effort.

But when the boy climbed upon the wagon in starlight, and made a few
leading remarks, Zene really plunged into a story. He thereby
relieved his own feelings and turned the talk from late occurrences.

"I told you about Little Ant Red and Big Ant Black?"

"No, you never!" exclaimed Bobaday.

"Well, once there was Little Ant Red and Big Ant Black lived
neighbors."

"Whose aunts were they--each other's?" inquired the boy.

"They wasn't your father's or mother's sisters; they was
_antymires_," explained Zene.

"Oh," said Robert Day.

"Ant Red, she was a little bit of a thing; you could just see her.
But Ant Black, she was a great big critter that went like a train of
cars when she was a mind to."

"I don't like either kind," said Robert. "The little ones got into
our sugar once, and Grandma had to fight 'em out with camphor, and a
big black got into my mouth and I bit him in two. He pinched my
tongue awful, and he tasted sour."

"Big Ant Black," continued Zene, "she lived in a hill by a stump,